Radiation scare delays Finnair flight from Moscow

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Russia's Transport Ministry said Saturday that experts had discovered radiation on a Finnair plane in a Moscow airport. "Radiation levels on board the Finnair plane were higher than the acceptable norm," a ministry spokesman told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, citing the ministry's press service rules. A flight inquiry officer at the Sheremetyevo airport said the Helsinki-bound airbus A-319 which had been due to take off at 13:05 Moscow time (1103 GMT) has been delayed due to "mandatory security measures." The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. A spokesman for Finnair said that an initial measurement found slightly higher radiation levels initially on the plane, but that they were within the permissible levels. Later measurements found no increased levels, he said.